Cost of Attendance Report for 1997
Who Are Our Students?
In Connecticut, like everywhere else in the United States, today’s typical
undergraduate student looks less and less like the traditional stereotype of a
recent high school graduate, typically male, pursuing a bachelor’s degree
full-time before going off to face the real world. In fact, less than 41 percent
of Connecticut’s undergraduates are full-time, degree-seeking men and women
aged 18 to 21. At our public colleges and universities the figure is only 31
percent.
Who are Connecticut’s typical undergraduates? A clear majority are women
(56.5 percent) and just over half (51 percent) are over age 22. At the
Connecticut Community-Technical Colleges, almost 60 percent are age 25 or above.
While a majority are still white (77.2 percent), a growing proportion are
minorities (22.8 percent).
About 44 percent attend part-time which means that many students are taking
more than two years to complete an associates degree and more than four years to
complete a baccalaureate degree if, indeed, that was their intention in the
first place. We know that in our community-technical colleges, in particular,
many students enroll for a specific course or series of courses to meet
immediate training or educational needs, and not necessarily to complete a
degree. Others, however, are attending part-time while working or may "stop
out" and then return to college after a semester or longer for economic
reasons.3
Connecticut’s college and universities enroll less than 50 percent of high
school graduates who go onto college right after graduation. In 1992, some
19,768 Connecticut high school graduates were new college freshmen. Of these,
10,218 or 52 percent left Connecticut for colleges elsewhere. This is
unfortunate from an economic perspective since Connecticut loses dollars which
flow out to pay out-of-state college tuition and forgoes valuable future
workforce talent.4
Students attending Connecticut public higher education do so for three main
reasons: to earn a credential, to get or keep a job or to improve their
financial situation. Thus, the higher education experience for most students in
our public system is an economic activity. They attend the particular
institutions they do because the institutions are affordable, are close to home
and/or offer the specific academic program they want. They think the most
important products or outcomes of a public higher education are good
communication skills, critical thinking skills, technical skills and a good work
ethic.5
Table of Contents
Introduction
Trends
and Challenges
Who
Are Our Students?
How
Much Does It Cost to Go to College in Connecticut?
Can
Connecticut Students Afford to Pay?
How Does Financial Aid Work?
Are Our Colleges
Able to Meet Need?
Are
Connecticut Public Colleges Affordable?
Conclusions
and Recommendations
End Notes
Attachment A
Attachment
B
Attachment C
Attachment D
Attachment
E
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